


running from the end

by shojo_manga_trash



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Canon Typical Violence, Character Death, Gen, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-09 16:18:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5546996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shojo_manga_trash/pseuds/shojo_manga_trash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Order 66 came down, the unlikely pair of ex-Jedi found their way in the galaxy together. But as the Empire never ceases to hunt them down, their luck may have finally run out.</p>
<p>(originally posted on tumblr @asajjvventress for an ask prompt)</p>
            </blockquote>





	running from the end

The ringing in her ears (the sharp pain in her back, in her limbs, her head), it ceases all thought, the sound of creaking metal and blasters a subtle background melody to Ahsoka’s shouts. Asajj could hardly clear her foggy mind enough to take in what had happened. (There was an explosion… a bomb? A rocket?)

_**“Asajj– Asajj!”** _

Ah. Now she remembers…

> _“Come on, Tano, we have to move! **Now**!”_ She barked, dragging Ahsoka behind her by the wrist. How many times were they going to have to out run these damned clones? Blaster fire roared around them, nipping at their heels and grazing their shoulders, their heads. (Every shot bringing another premonition of their fates.)
> 
> A hard left takes the pair of fugitives behind a tall tower of shipping crates, durasteel walls blocking red bolts from searing their flesh.
> 
> Asajj made a grab for the bow at her back, firing blindly around the corner. A quick once over of Ahsoka (her own blaster in hand, shooting desperately) shows she’s uninjured, and to their backs– a wall. Dammit!  _ “We aren’t getting out of this one without a fight.” _
> 
> _“No kidding,”_ Ahsoka answered with a grunt of effort. A bolt zips past her montral just as she recoils. _“You have a plan?”_  
> 
> 
> _“Well, I’ve always been told I have a talent for running away.”_ She releases a plasma bolt from the bow, watching it hit home in a soldier’s neck.  _“There’s a vent at the corner of this back wall, but I don’t see a way to get there that won’t result in us being blasted through with holes.”_  
> 
> 
> The Togruta huffed.  _“Always the optimistic one. But if it’s our only shot, we have to take it!”_
> 
> Frown deepening, she agreed.  _“Keep your eyes peeled for an opening then!”_ We won’t have a chance otherwise, Asajj added silently.
> 
> Another round of fire is exchanged, purple plasma and red blasts illuminating the old warehouse brighter than Coruscant at nightfall. The rage of the fire fight left scorch marks on the containers and walls, the duracrete floor littered with debris. Asajj had settled into a deep focus, the type of concentration that she only met on the battlefield (only when her life was on the line, only when it was best for her to **_run_** ). Keen eyes zipped from one target to the next as her hands worked quickly, notching arrow after arrow, thinning out their **hunters** one by one…
> 
> She heard a shout, a cry of pain.  _“Ahsoka!”_
> 
> Ahsoka had fallen back against the shipping container, sharp teeth bared and a hand clutching her shoulder.  _“I’m alright!”_ She sputtered, shooting once more.  _“I’m alright…"_
> 
> Asajj rushed over to her side, bow pointed to the ground.  _“Now is our best chance at getting into the vent. If we don’t go now while their numbers are low, we’ll be over run by their reinforcements.”_
> 
> She gave a sharp nod.  _“You’re right, just– we have to be quick about it.”_
> 
> _“Who do you think you’re talking to, Tano?”_ An upturn of her lips brought a hint of light to Asajj’s face.  _“We can make it. I’ll cover you while you climb those crates to the top, make sure none of those clones get any ideas.”_  
> 
> 
> There was no denying the displeasure Ahsoka wanted to voice with this plan, but in the midst of all this there was no time to argue.  _“Fine– just make sure you’re right behind me!”_
> 
> _“I wouldn’t be anywhere else.”_  
> 
> 
> And that’s when the rocket hit.

_“No… no, **please** no–”_ Asajj heard Ahsoka say below her, her shaved head lolling on the ground beside hers. She had felt it, right before it hit; a clone with a rocket launcher, the force of the explosion blowing a hole in their barricade of shipping crates. But in the split second before it made contact (the galaxy moving in slow motion, _the Force_ humming in her mind, directing her) Asajj had lunged. Placing her body between the explosion and Ahsoka, her back became a blackened crisp, the side of her face a patch of bloodied flesh.

She groaned, picking herself up off the ground before falling right back down.  _“Stop… whimpering.”_ Her voice came out as a croak. _“‘m not dead yet,”_

_“Asajj,”_ She sounded so relieved, she noted; the little Padawan that she’d once tried to kill now an exile… an exile that sighed with relief knowing that her fellow fugitive still drew breath. If she didn’t hurt so much, Asajj might have laughed.  _“Can you walk?”_

Asajj rolled herself over with the help of Ahsoka, gritting her teeth with a pained groan when her back touched the wall.  _“Yeah– I can… I can walk.”_ Though not all that well, she guessed.  _“You?”_

Ahsoka nodded quickly, lekku bobbing with the motion.  _“I’m fine.”_ She moved to put her arms around Asajj’s shoulders.  _“If we move quickly we can–”_

_“No.”_ she interrupted, leaning away from the younger woman’s touch. From across the warehouse there was a shuffle of boots, a shout of  _ **“Come out with your weapons dropped and your hands up, Jedi! We have you cornered!”**_ With her right arm Asajj reached upward, anchoring herself on a fallen crane to come to a stand. Ahsoka followed as she peered into the room filled with smoke, the shapes of clone soldiers just barely visible as they slunk closer.

_“You have… to get out of here.”_ Ahsoka straightened at Asajj’s hoarse voice, eyes catching on her hand reaching for the saber at her belt. A protest rose in her throat but Asajj spoke first–  _“There’s enough cover from the smoke for you to get away unnoticed. I’ll hold them off, buy you some time.”_

Her head shook, blue eyes going wide as she made a grab for her wrists. _“Asajj no, I–”_ The taller woman snatched herself away, stepping forward and away with a grunt of effort. The lightsaber hilt fit perfectly into her hand (better than her curved sabers ever did).

_“I won’t make it far in this condition.”_ She said.  _“I would only slow you down. Now,”_ Asajj turned, grabbing Ahsoka’s good shoulder and steering her towards the direction of the vent. She hissed under her breath, _“ **go!** ”_

The conflict on her face, the despair, Asajj knew it and she knew it well. (Oh how many times had she watched her loved ones die, her safe places vanquished?) But here, now, this moment where her body fought against her to lay down and die, every injury roaring like fire… there was no pain.

_“My days of running are over.”_ Her face is a mask of stone as she turns toward the enemy, her body rigid yet surprisingly light. She activates her lightsaber with a familiar _snap-hiss_ , and yellow light flooded the ground around her. The sound of blasters being raised for the kill met her ears (but there was no urgency, no fear, no hate…). _“But you still have a long way ahead of you. A journey **awaits you** , Ahsoka…”_ And this is where mine ends.

With her lightsaber raised she glanced to her, a content, ghostly smile adorning her lips.  _“Don’t throw away what the Force has in store for you.”_

And she charged. Red blasts ringing out to destroy her golden light, to the bitter end she fought, taking solace in no longer sensing the girl who brought her back to the _light_.  And for the first time, Asajj Ventress was truly at peace.


End file.
